Carolina Family Restaurant

Perfect place for some down home Spanish Food...to go. I'm happy to see that the good food and friendly servers are still the same after years away from the South Side. The murals are a nice touch. Unfortunately, the seating area is still too small and parking is a nightmare.

Grew up in this place and to come back and still have the best prices even after inflation is pretty magical

Country spanish Dominican food. Taste mix between spanish and little south american country never the same but close. People friendly. Is more Latino than anything but if you want home taste food. There is okay. No spicy food. Ask some could be spicy flavors depending of the daily menu.

I'm half Irish half Puerto Rican. This place makes me feel 100% BORICUA! Mofongo, alcupurias and everything was BOMB! MUY BUENO!

Me and my husband's favorite place to get Spanish food. I wish they were in West Warwick but the drive back to my home town in Providence is worth it.

The fish was old , it tasted absolutely disgusting three other people tried it in my house just to make sure I was not tripping SEAFOOD IS NOT SOMETHING ANYBODY WANTS TO GET SICK ON

Some of the meat looked dry, like it’d been sitting there all day. I went with the bistec encebollado (beef with onions) which didn’t look as dry with tostones. It was great.

They been there for over 20 yrs they the sweetest family own restaurant best fish, Spanish food , you missing out if not tried yet.look at my chicharones don't hate go try.

This corner restaurant on Broad street is always packed. People eating in, people getting take out. Their full fried chicken is only $10, which is a deal compared to other places around, the half chicken is $5. The chicken is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. You can add sides to it, like rice, beans, plantains, etc. I love soup and they always have at least 2-3 varieties of soup to choose from. The sancocho is delicious....a bit salty for my taste, but I always add a bit of hot water to thin it down. The portions are huge and sometimes I have enough leftovers for the next day.

Use to love eating from here but lately the meat pies dried out n hard they use to much salt in the food chicken taste to salty have to find me another spot Sorry just threw away 20$

So this place is my providence Dominican food spot. The food is authentic, delicious, fast, cheap, and plentiful. You can't go wrong here. Don't forget to grab a pastelito to snack on. The place is small but very clean. Depending on the time of day you go there might be a line out the door. I recommend not going @ 12 or 5pm. Its well worth it.

This place had some good Spanish food. A large portion at a great price. A $7 plate is plenty of food for a single person. The inside looked like it needed some work and was kind of run down. Also, the customer service here needs some improvement. Most of the workers don't speak English (which I don't have a problem with). It's the fact that the person that was taking my girlfriend's order walked away as she was talking to her. Food is the only thing that should be served, not disrespect. When the worker came back, she seemed annoyed and unpleasantly asked what she wanted. I understand the social demographics of why this happened but it's unacceptable.

Do not judge this restaurant by its outside appearance... they have the best Latin food I've ever had in my life! I came here for lunch on a weekday, and the line was out the door for the entire 45 minutes I was there eating. After tasting the food, it was clear to me why! The prices for the plates are extremely cheap (you pay according to the size of the box), especially considering how high quality and delicious the food is! There is a small parking lot behind the restaurant that is always full due to the restaurant's popularity, but there is usually street parking available.

I heard some amazing things about the Mofongo and that MF delivered!! It was like I took a dive into a passionate bliss with rich flavors and boldness to my tongue. I wanted to take 5mins with each bite and take in the full experience. I felt like I was on tropic vacation. Que viva la Isla!! Phenomenal! Think I found my future wife here lol .. hopefully there's room in the family (wink). They portion size is large and prices are more than fair ..kinda feel like they should be more but clearly ownership knows what they are doing. I'm looking forward another trip there. Btw the Jamaican patties are LITTY!!! Flakey crust and spicy meat. It's great supporting small businesses but it's great when are truly AMAZING too.

The food is excellent!!! It never disappoints!!! I recommend! Love this place!! They represent Dominican Republic 100%

WOW. I'm from Los Angeles, so it's RARE to find a Dominican/PR food joint, and so for my first trip to the east coast, I know I had to have it. My housemate is Dominican and just hearing how fondly he talked about Dominican food, I was ready. This place did not disappoint at all. I had the arroz, habichuelas, pollo, sopa de coditos, y (not pictures) a pastelito picoso. Everything was absolutely delicious and I can see why my friend misses this food. Super well priced too, $8 for everything. Absolutely would recommend coming here without a doubt. Be ready to wait in line though. I only waited like 10 minutes but based on previous reviews, looks like it could get longer.

Gross. Stay away!! Went there a few months ago and let me tell you, I saw some cockroaches roaming around. I've never seen that before in a restaurant. I was stunned. The workers unfortunately just worked around them. But especially with the food being left out in the open, I was grossed out. Never going back. Never getting that image out of my head

I'm going to cut right to the chase. I am Dominican and although the food comes very close to being like homes it falls short. The food here is okay but nothing to write home about. The Moro de guandules (rice with pigeon peas) was on the drier side and lacked salt. They did however give you a healthy portion of it in your meal. The chicken was very nice and had enough salt to compensate for the rice being bland. The macaroni salad also lacked flavor and although had the appearance of being creamy it was mostly just oil. The empanadas were good but the filling was on the dry side and oversalted. The morir suenando (Orange & cream) drink was just not right. It was too sweet because they used Tampico orange juice which is basically artificial sugar water. It lacked that tartness which rounds out the sugar content. The food was very inexpensive, two platter and two drinks for 18 bucks. It's a dream to a college student, I just wish they tasted the food before they served it.

De lo mio! We tried Carolina's for the first time through a recommendation and we absolutely loved it! We got the Mofongo con chicharron along with some empanadas. The Mofongo was made fresh, so when you order you have to wait 10 minutes because they make it after you order which I think is amazing. Having fresh Mofongo is THE.BEST. The chicharron was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The crispy crunch from the skin and the balanced salt flavor Lastly, I never thought I would like a chicken empanada as much as the one from Carolina's. We were blown away from it. The chicken has deep flavor and retains its moisture unlike many empanadas that have dry chicken filling. We would def go back again and most likely will You can check out our video review for more of the inside scoop on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wbT61sbZXTM

OMG Like your Dominican grandma would make, if you were lucky enough to have a Dominican grandma. This food is a culinary masterpiece. Unless you were raised making it- you shouldn't even think about trying to cook like this. Yellow rice, beans, chicharone, macaroni salad, roasted chicken- a table full of food- $21.00. It felt like we were stealing. We ate like kings! Dominican kings. We drove here from Boston- and you know what...I would have walked.

I love this spot!! Always on point with the soups especially, fast service and great variety. I've tried other cafeteria style spots in Providence and I always find my way back to Carolina's. Definitely a must try!!

Best place ever!!! I would eat here everyday if my wife didn't cook. I love the rice w/red beans and beef or pork shoulder. Beef patties and empeanadas are great too.

Best Spanish food in PVD. Gracias! It's good and cheap and you can get your fill to eat

Food is good and inexpensive but service is terrible. Our First visit we had to wait 25mins for the monfongo to be made. So, second visit we called ahead for take-out. They told us 15-20mins it'll be ready. We arrived in that time window but had to wait another 20minutes to pick-up our food. Should have learned from our first experience. We won't be returning to this restaurant.

Best spanish food I've ever had! Let me clarify, this restaurant serves dominican food which is basically the same as Puerto Rican. My husband is 100% Puerto Rican, born & raised there & he loves Carolina'a food. No tacos or burritos served here. We live in Woonsocket & travel to Broad St just for the food. Everything is good! Best habichuelas (pink beans)I've ever tasted. Big thick chicharrone cut to order. Best chicken empanadillas I've ever had! Prices are unbelievable, plates start at $3.50 for rice, meat & beans. Upgrade to $5.50 & you get more food plus choice of salads or spaghetti. Mmmmm, think I'll take a ride there tomorrow :) oh and they speak english

This cozy, clean spot is currently in my Top 3 of Latin spots in Providence. It's as good if not better than my old haunts in Bushwick/Williamsburg Brooklyn, which has a large Dominican community. Since my travels have taken me back to NYC less often recently, I've been hitting up Elmwood and other Broad street spots close to home more often. Carolina's has my fave arroz habichuelas y carne in town and I'm kicking myself bc I procrastinated on trying their sancocho until now. It's gooood! A lot of the workers speak English and you can order food that takes longer to cook, like mofongo, ahead of time to save the wait. It's cheap too (my average meal costs $4) and the location is closer to downtown than some other Dominican spots I like as well. Carolina's has me wanting to eat through the whole menu, everything I've had has been really delicious. Check it out.

Never fails to provide delicious food :-) I grew up in NYC but now live in Massachusetts and will make the 45 minute drive willingly, in traffic, to get a plate of food. They ALWAYS hit the spot and remind me of the Washington Heights restaurants that I went to. I'm seriously thinking of getting into my car now and taking a ride to Providence LOL

OMG! Why are there not photos! or reviews ! I would add a photo if I had good sense to take photos back when I was living in Providence. Wow, let me tell you. The food here is CHEAP! and SO SO SO DELICIOUS! I ALWAYS order the chicken stew and rice with some beans on top. And I think it was only 3 bucks!!!! I've had the pork here and it's also good but I LOVE the chicken stew they serve. They also serve eggs, and roasted chicken and a lot more. The plantains are also very good. The only bad thing about this place is the location. It's too far for Brown students to travel by bus or foot. BUT if you have a car..u MUST stop by and order the chicken stew with bean and rice. YUMMY. You can also take the 11 bus..I think it's the 11 bus (Broad St.). BTW, they have this awesome HOT sauce there..it's in a bottle. I don't know where they got it but it's damn good. I ALWAYS add some onto my chicken. IF I were to ever go back to Providence this is the first stop I'll make. YUMMY. Also...I wish I knew what the chicken dish is called...does anyone know? I'd like to find a recipe for it.

This was so satisfying! The portions were huge and I had left overs for another whole meal. The food was really good! They lost one star for not speaking good English, which I find offensive in 2015, hire a translator. This make the whole experience a difficult one. But I will definitely be back!

The service was terrible I called to have a take-out and the woman when I went to-pick up my order she told another employee she lost my ticket with the order. I waited so long so my food can be made patiently and at the end the rice and beans didn't have flavor and the chicken was so greasy and seemed undercooked a little. I ended up with feeling sick after eating.

This place is very intimidating to enter but give it a try! I found this restaurant through Yelp and I'm glad I decided to pick this place because boy, this place is amazing! Not only is it cheap but they serve you so much food in one plate. Literally a medium is more than enough to fill up two people! The staffs here are so sweet, friendly and funny. Although there was a little bit of a language barrier between us, there wasn't any problems just point at what you want (lol!) Thank goodness, my boyfriend knew Spanish which helped out a lot. What I thought was very pleasuring was the fact that they had a fairly large parking spot for their customers! Which was a huge plus. Their food is delicious, it truly felt like something your grandma would cook and it was really comforting. So worth the hour drive, can't wait to try everything else on the menu. Will definitely come back soon!

Best friend of mine (Johnny M) couldn't stop raving about Carolina's so I had to try it. Several nights ago, a friend and I went around 8:30 pm and oh boy it was scary. The neighborhood is iffy and sketchy. I was like "hurry up, get the food, and let's get the heck out of here". I ordered the empanadas, rice, beans, beef stew, spaghetti, fried eggs. Like everyone here on yelp, the rice and beans were good. Everything else was not so good. Spaghetti tasted like it's from a can, empanadas weren't the best, beef stew was below average, and salad was old/dry. People here on yelp said prices were around 3-6 bucks, mines came out to be around 10 bucks, and maybe I got robbed? Do yourself a favor and head to Manton Ave. There's this market that sells good prep Puerto Rican food. You won't be disappointed.

I refuse to visit New England if I cannot head over to Carolina's for a plate of stewed chicken with rice and beans. It's awesome. I used to visit often when I attended JWU, but now I must settle for 1 or 2 visits per year. Give it a try. You won't be sorry.

This place wasn't what I expected. I waited in line for a while and some of the food I wanted wasn't there. So I got something different and the food was pretty much flavorless. I mean it wasn't bad but just definitely needed more flavor. It wasn't like all the other Spanish restaurants I've been to. I don't know maybe it was an off day. But definitely today I was disappointed.

$4 plate for rice, beans, and chicken. Enough to feed two people. Doesn't get any better.

The food was well prepared and the staff very helpful and friendly...however, can't give it more than 3 stars because there was no Pernil? (roast pork)...A Cuchifrito without roast pork or Chicarron is like McDonald's w/o hamburger...IMO

Great people, awesome food. The mofongo with shrimp and pork was the best i ever had.

We wanted Puerto Rican food. I liked it.. bf and daughter did not. It wasn't awful but we had better.. they don't speak English so you gotta point to what you want. You order and find a seat .. we prob won't be back.. 2 against 1

Great food amazing prices!!! Just stopped to ty to get some spanish food on my way home from the casino and cannot be any happier at what I found!!! My boyfriend is Dominican and me being only a partially spanish speaking individual I often am intimidated in all spanish places... Not here, the staff is beyond friendly and bilingual too! The food is typical Dominican food, we got a servico of queso blanco (friend white cheese) with mangu (mashed plaintains) sausage and jueuvos (eggs). Than also got moro(yellow rice and beans) with carne de ree and a side of chuleta (pork) and also chicharron (sp.?Fried pork bellies)... Yum and totaled under $20! We ate our breakfast lunch and dinner off that !

I've been coming to Carolina's for a while now and I can honestly say that I've fallen in love with the food. I try to get something different because of all the choices they have. Although, my favorite is the Carne asada con arroz amarillo. Everything they make is great! Not only is the food good but they have a home made lemonade that I can not get enough of. If you're looking for good Dominican food this is the place to go.

Carolina's is one of the "gems" of the Elmwood food scene (along with Apsara Restaurant and Pho Paradise). Run by a family, it is consistent, hearty and inexpensive food that I think (not being from the culture myself) would be described as Dominican. Most of the staff and customers are Spanish-speaking, but it's also easy to navigate if you are a newbie. We love the stewed chicken, fried plantains, beautifully spiced beans and rice! They have lots of other meats and stuff we haven't tried. Excellent place to get a large tray of food for a party - it is so cheap!

I came her about 2 years ago and had Mangu. I totally forgot until I walked in. I was working in Warwick for the day and try to get latin food whenever I can because I am obsessed so this place was close enough with amazing reviews. So cheap and delicious! I got a $5 container of spaghetti and meatballs which my friend ate in 2 minutes. I also got an $8 container of yellow rice fried chicken breast and beans with salad. so much food for 2 ppl we barely finished half of the larger container. I will come here whenever I am in the area. The place is very clean, you can see the food you are ordering and the guy helping us at the counter was very attentive.

Yummy! I love places like this! Delicious home cooked food made by small business owners :)

The ladies here are always very sweet. Prices are great. The language barrier can be a bit of an issue though. There have been times when I have ordered an empanada and went home with a pastelito, and vice versa, despite having repeated my request and having them verbally confirm that they knew what I wanted. There is a place in MA that I am used to with better chicken and the same plate size for less, but for RI this is good stuff.

What the hell is this crap? The fried foods taste days old. The stuffed potatoes balls had more corn meal than potatoes, and none of their food tasted like they used any spices at all. Being Puerto Rican I expected better. A hellava lot better.

Whenever people on the East Side complain about there being no good Latin food in Providence I always wonder if they even know the area on the other side of the highway is still Providence. Carolina Family Restaurant is soooo good. It reminds me places in Holyoke when I lived in that area. They have everything you could want from a Dominican restaurant, and are without question the best price deal in town ($5.50) for a balanced meal that can serve as lunch and dinner. Come and get the rice and beans, the yuca and onions, the carne ensopado, the empanadillas, the rabo....really anything. The women that work here are great too.

Great latin food, really good, I go all the way down to providence from boston, just for Carolinas restaurant the best!!!

Food is incredible, staff is very friendly. Almost bypassed the place, but glad we decided to try it. Staff was very accomadating. Tried half a dozen things on the menu, all were very good. The potato balls, meat pies, plantains, rice and beans, baked chicken were delicious. We will be returning if ever in Providence again.

awesome Dominican food!! You can't go wrong with the portion sizes and the prices.

all i can say is wow! phenomenal! dont listen to thony c, the only food he eats is mexican!!

A friend bought me some food from here.. NASTY GROSS. you couldn't pay me to eat there food again.